Front Axle

7-26-2014  Deron and I have often talked about the options we might have for the front axle.  Because I would like self-activating drum brakes on the front and have already purchased finned Buick drums, a relatively simple option might be to install a 1940 Ford front axle on the car.  Parts are readily available and this is a commonly-used hot rod option.  There is a fundamental difference in the design of the 1932 Plymouth axle that prevents me from simply adapting Ford brake drums and hubs to the 

stock axle.  The king pin joint in a 1930's car consists of a central bushing surrounded on each end by the "knuckles" of the opposing part.  The king pin connects the whole assembly.  In the Ford axles of the period, the knuckles are part of the wheel hub assembly as shown here:

Note that the knuckles rotate and the central bushing remains stationary as the wheel is turned by the steering mechanism.   In the 1932 Chrysler products, the design was the reverse, as shown in this photograph of a Model PB Plymouth steering joint:

On this joint, the central bushing rotates with the hub and wheel, while the knuckles remain stationary with the axle -- the exact opposite of the Ford design in 1940.  (Interestingly, the Model T Ford was designed like the 1932 Plymouth in this respect,  Go figure...)

One surprising drawback I have learned is that the Ford axle, while 8 years newer than the car, is about 4 inches narrower in the track (the distance between the hubs).  Another option is to substitute a tubular, rather than a forged, axle.  These are common in 1950's era hotrods, so it would be authentic to the period I'm trying to achieve.  In fact, the 1933 and '34 Plymouths used a tubular front axle that had a design similar to the 1940 Ford axle.  I have looked for one of these tubular axles for several years, to no avail.  Until today...

I saw the following ad on eBay:

The Tubular Axle as shown on eBay

“FOR SALE.........VINTAGE...... TUBULAR DOUBLE DIP  FRONT AXLE......1933 PLYMOUTH ( CHECK AND MAKE SURE)....WITH RIGHT AND LEFT FRONT SPINDLES........NO HARDWARE FOR THE SPINDLES....NO BUSHINGS,KING PINS OR GREASE FITTINGS........MY FATHER USED THESE FRONT AXLES ON HIS 1933 WILLYS   A/GASSER.........AXLE IS IN GOOD CONDITION......SOLD AS IS.................AXLE IS 50 INCHES FROM, SPINDLE HOLE TO SPINDLE HOLE.....WILL SHIP GROUND FREIGHT.......PLEASE ASK ANY QUESTIONS.;.........GREAT AXLE FOR A/GASSER........HOT ROD OR RAT ROD.”  The pictures that accompanied the ad were promising.  It should arrive late this week.  Unfortunately, I'll be out of town on business, but as soon as I return, the "new" axle shall be delivered to the Shady shop.

Thoughts of Final Paint

19 July, 2014 - Even more progress was evident when I went out to visit the shop today!  Notwithstanding that it was Saturday, I found all three of the "boys" at the shop.  They immediately began showing me what's been taking place.  First of all, I saw that the body is now off of the frame and resting on the platform that Dan had built when we removed the body in 2011.  

As I looked at the body perched on its stand, I couldn't miss 3 test panels of paint that I had asked Deron to get.  As I have seen certain paint colors that I've liked and thought might be usable on this car, I've determined the paint sources and passed these to Deron.  Here were three of them in "living Color."  I brought them home today to show Mary Ann to see if she particularly cared for any of them.

As I moved toward the rear of the shop, I spotted lots of parts -- doors, hood parts, and others -- in their final primer coats.  What a beautiful sight!

And then I walked over to the chassis, now exposed in all it's Chrysler-engineered glory, and saw the front fenders lying on the chassis and an adjacent table.  During my last visit, these fenders were at the bead blaster's shop.  Now they were in primer.  Dan said they were in remarkably good shape.  He had observed one interesting fact.  The right (passenger side) fender had substantially more pitting on the underside than the left fender.  We could only speculate why this might be the case.  Perhaps the left fender had been replaced at some point, or maybe the salt on the Ohio roads where this car was driven tends to concentrate nearer the edges of the roads.  Who knows???

Matters of the Hood

4 July, 2014 -- Big forward movement!  I decided to visit the shop while running a bunch of errands in Huntsville.  When I got there, Dan was in the shop.  Deron and Daniel (on Summer break) had not yet arrived.  As I approached the car, I noticed that the rumble seat lid and doors were off and the hood, radiator, and all four fenders were now among the missing.  Dan asked, "Do you notice anything different?  I walked around the car but failed to notice the obvious -- The car is now detached from the frame:

Dan is preparing to mount it on its dolly once again to do the final prime coat in preparation for the "real" paint.  He also said that the work on the front fenders was completed and that they are at the media blaster to be cleaned and pickled in preparation for their primer coats.  He had been working on the top panels of the hood.  The side panels are ready for final prime coat.

The hood of the Model PB Plymouth is an interesting subchapter in the history of automotive styling.  In 1932, most automobiles had hoods that extended to the firewall.  There was a distinct line between the hood and the front of the cowl area.  The 1932 Ford is a good example of this design.  

The Chrysler design team decided to extend the hood all the way to the windshield on the entire Chrysler product line for the "1932" models, including the Model PB Plymouth (The model changes didn't always coincide with calendar years.).  This design introduces a challenge with regard to ventilation.  It required that the hood and the cowl each have vent openings with vent covers that could be operated from within the car.  It was a clever design with one serious flaw.  There was no way to drain the channel in the hood in which the rubber seal cushion resided.  These soft rubber gaskets always absorbed water, stayed wet, and eventually caused the steel channel in which they were cemented to pit and ultimately rust through.  Such was the case with the hood for this roadster.  It was better than most, but had some pinholes rusted through.  The challenge to the restorer is that if we try to weld the pinholes, we stand a good chance of introducing warpage and distortion into the smooth curves of the hood.  Dan solved this problem nicely by scouring the channels to rid them of any corrosion, sealing the underside of the hood with tape, and spreading a thin layer of two-part epoxy in the channel.  This seals the channel, doesn't require any welding, and will be totally invisible since it will be covered by the rubber seal.  And the repair will never rust!

The underside of the hood vent opening has all the complexity of the hinges and attaching point for the vent cover adjustment mechanism.  This entire assemblage extends through the vent opening in the cowl, which is larger than the hood vent.  The whole thing worked and allowed the '32 Chrysler products to look longer and more stylistically uncluttered.  All that and the advantage of bugs and rain having direct ingress when the vents are opened!  You can see the result in this picture of my other 1932 Plymouth taken today with the driver's vent opened:

The effect of the continuous hood is even more dramatic on the 1932 Chrysler Custom Imperial Phaeton shown in this factory photo: